


This Glitter's Not Gold

by ExhaustedCommonSense



Series: Watch Me Shift [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Barry is genderfluid, Barry uses he/she/they, Bisexual Barry Allen, Canon Gay Character, Child Abuse, Child Negligence, F/M, Genderfluid Character, Hartley and Barry are foster siblings, Hartley is the overprotective brother, Hartley kicked out at age 13, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, The Rogues (DCU) As Family, Transphobia, both by ocs, but still an egotistical tool, deaf Hartley, eobard thawn died the night he killed nora allen, everything happens while Barry's in a coma, faulty hearing aids, harrison wells is the original, he has hearing impairment in the beginning, he wakes up and the world's gone weird, his parents are homophobic pricks, his pronouns change throughout the story, more pairings to be added, only takes bits from canon, seriously AU, that event changed the timeline so much that he ceased to exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 04:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhaustedCommonSense/pseuds/ExhaustedCommonSense
Summary: Hartley and Barry become foster siblings as young teens and take the world on together





	This Glitter's Not Gold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who didn't read the notes, here's what you need to know before reading:  
> -Eobard Thawn ceased to exist the night he killed Nora Allen because it changed the timeline.  
> -Hartley was kicked out for being gay much younger than in canon.  
> -Barry is genderfluid. His pronouns will change frequently during the story (he/she/they).  
> -I haven't decided on all of the pairings yet. Please feel free to suggest some.  
> -The rating may go up as the story continues.

“I’m sorry Mr West,” the child services woman frowned. “Barry has specifically stated that he doesn’t want to be placed in your home. We think that it would be emotionally harmful to go against his wishes at this point in time. Your request to foster him has been denied.”

Joe sighed and ran a hand across his face before kneeling down to try to talk to Barry who was sat glaring at his shoes. “Barry, I know you’re upset, but wouldn’t you rather come home with me and see Iris? She’s really worried about you.” Barry looked up, clearly a little torn. “Come on Bare, I promised your dad that I’d look after you.”

It was the wrong thing to say, Barry’s face immediately shut down and he stood up to try push Joe away. “Then you shouldn’t have arrested him! He didn’t kill my mum!”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” the woman stepped in-between them. “Thank you for your time. I’m sorry that we had to deny the placement. Maybe if you try again in a few months Barry might have calmed down.”

“Never!” Barry snapped. “I never want to see you again! It’s all your fault!”

Joe winced but nodded and left with one final remorseful look at Barry. Once he’d gone, the woman guided Barry back to his chair and explained that another foster family had agreed to take him in. Apparently, they had already taken in one other foster child a couple of months before and thought that they would manage with another one.

Barry stayed silent throughout the explanation, his anger had drained out of him to be replaced with the numb feeling of being alone in the world. He nodded mechanically as the social worker hustled him into her car and cheerfully told him that the other boy the family was fostering was close to him in age.

The house they pulled up in front of was the same as all the others on the street; a typical family home in the city. The couple introduced themselves as Ashley and Nigel Overton and encouraged him to go upstairs to dump his things. It was only a two-bedroom house, so he would be sharing his room with the other foster child. As Barry trudged up the stairs he could hear them telling his social worker that they wouldn’t be able to take any more children in.

The bedroom he’d been directed to was already occupied by a boy who looked slightly older than Barry. He was sat on his bed with his back against the headboard while typing away on a laptop. He looked up when Barry hesitated in the doorway and placed his laptop to the side so that he could stand up with a sigh.

“That’s your bed,” he gestured to the single bed that had been pushed against the other side of the room. The room was symmetrical; there was a single bed pushed against the wall on either side with a chest of draws at the bottom. There was a small bedside table at the side of each bed but there was no other furniture in the room.

“Thanks,” Barry mumbled, placing his backpack onto the bed. His possessions hadn’t been released yet, but his social worker had promised that she would deliver some of his clothes and personal items as soon as she could.

“Is this your first placement?” The boy questioned. His tone was blunt and the light glinted off his glasses, giving him an unapproachable air. Barry nodded and shuffled on the spot. “This is my second, but they seem alright. They haven’t hit me yet at least.”

Barry shuddered. He’d heard all of the stories about foster care and it was almost enough to make him wish he’d taken Joe’s offer of a home. However, all he had to think of was his dad in jail for a crime he didn’t commit for that doubt to go away. It didn’t matter how bad Barry had it, his dad must have been going through worse.

“I’ve been here a couple of months,” the boy finally offered, a calculating look on his face. “My parents kicked me out for being gay and then my first placement tried to exorcise the gay out of me.”

“My dad got arrested for killing my mum,” Barry told him numbly. He got the feeling that this was some sort of test, but he no longer cared if he passed or not, he just wanted his family. “But he didn’t do it.”

Barry couldn’t hold it together anymore; a sob broke out and then he couldn’t stop. There was a muffled swear and then arms were wrapping around him and lowering him onto his new bed. Eventually, his tears slowed to a stop, allowing the boy to pull away with a strange look on his face.

“My name’s Hartley,” the boy introduced.

“Barry,” he wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, offering Hartley a shaky smile.

“Well Barry,” Hartley sighed. “It looks like it’s just us against the world.”

* * *

 

Barry quickly came to realise how true Hartley’s words were. While not abusive, their foster parents were negligent to the point of leaving for days at a time. Hartley theorised that they were both having affairs, but it was obvious to both boys that the only reason they had agreed to foster was the money – none of which ever got used for either of them.

Other than their unfortunate luck, Hartley and Barry also had science in common; they spent most of their time in the library or science labs at school. Everyone at school knew they were foster children and they’d both had to start new there, which meant that nobody wanted anything to do with them.

Barry was eternally grateful that he’d been placed in the same house as Hartley, who seemed to have taken on the role of older brother with an overprotective aggressiveness that meant no bully made the mistake of targeting Barry twice.

Hartley had a lot of his own problems to deal with; he had already been anti-social, which wasn’t helped by his blunt attitude and the fact that he could barely tolerate anyone dumber than him – and he didn’t try to hide it. Unfortunately, as he was a certified genius, this meant only Barry was safe from his scathing remarks.

Two years younger or not, Barry got into the habit of throwing himself into fights to get Hartley out of the line of fire. Most people left Barry alone since he’d proved to be a bit too quick to catch and Hartley didn’t hesitate to get revenge on any perceived injury. However, Hartley was an easy target who hadn’t ever learnt that running was sometimes the best plan.

The teachers were impressed by both boys, but Hartley’s personality quickly destroyed any favouritism that may have existed. Neither of them received any help from the adult in their lives. To the point where when Hartley’s hearing aides began to malfunction, they were left to deal with it on their own.

* * *

 

“This is a bad idea,” Barry worried, making sure to enunciate each word.

“Don’t really have much choice,” Hartley reminded him, letting out a triumphant yell when he managed to open his hearing aid.

His hearing aids had stopped working correctly a few weeks ago and they had only gotten worse. They had attempted to ask their foster parents for replacements, but they had claimed that they couldn’t afford them. Barry had been furious on Hartley’s behalf; the Overton’s were often buying themselves nice clothing and weekend holidays while Hartley and Barry had to settle for second hand clothing.

Instead, they had snuck into the mechanical workshop during the lunch break to try and repair them. Hartley was great with mechanics, while Barry had to stay on the lookout for teachers. As planned, Hartley was working on just one of his aids so that he could keep the other one in.

It took him another couple of weeks to finish both of them since he had to keep modifying them to fix the faults, but in the end his aids were back to the condition they were when he got them, just slightly bulkier because of the technology he’d had to use at school.

“We should celebrate,” Barry grinned. “You fixed your aids and we didn’t need anyone’s help.”

“Us against the world,” Hartley smirked. “We could break into the science lab next. You could experiment to your heart’s content.”

“That would teach Peters,” Barry frowned at the reminder of his science teacher who had refused to even consider Barry’s latest mysterious phenomenon. Hartley was constantly lending Barry his science text books so that he could learn more about supernatural anomalies.

“True,” Hartley nodded. “Or we could go to see your dad.”

Barry stopped dead. In the three years he’d been in foster care, he hadn’t been allowed to visit his dad once. According to his social worker, his dad was aware that he was in the foster system, but that was it. Even when they were there, his foster parents refused to take him and he didn’t have any way of getting to the prison alone.

Hartley held up a keyring with a genuine grin. In the few seconds it took for him to realise that they were car keys, Barry had already tackled Hartley in a hug. “Swiped them out of Ashley’s bag before she left on her ‘work trip’,” he boasted. “I figured it would be one last fuck you before I left.”

Barry hugged him tighter at the reminder. They had both agreed that once Hartley reached sixteen that he would be best getting emancipated and claiming as much of his inheritance as he could. The lawyer he’d spoken to had been able to discover that he hadn’t been locked out of his accounts yet but that he couldn’t access them until he was legally an adult.

Unfortunately, once he was emancipated, Hartley would no longer be able to stay in foster care and their foster parents wanted him gone as soon as the payments stopped. The paperwork would finish going through in the next few weeks and then Hartley would have to leave. He’d promised to stay close by for Barry until Barry could follow him.

“Thank you,” Barry finally choked out, letting him go to smile at him.

They raced back to the house after school, confident that both adults would be away for another few days. Hartley had been planning the perfect moment to take the keys so that they wouldn’t be caught.

“You ready?” He questioned once they were parked, turning the engine off.

Barry nodded so hard his seat wobbled. “You’re coming too, right?”

Hartley blinked and then unbuckled his seatbelt. He had thought that Barry would want to see his dad alone, but he was pleased that he was being included. They got a few funny looks from the guards, but no one protested when they requested to see Henry Allen.

“Barry,” Henry looked completely shocked when he saw who was waiting for him.

“Dad,” Barry sobbed into the phone, reaching up to put his hand on the glass. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Henry had tears in his eyes as he placed his hand on the other side of the glass. “Are you okay? Joe told me you were in foster care.”

“I’m fine,” Barry reassured. “Are you?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Henry smiled, his eyes flickering to look at Hartley in confusion before focusing on Barry again. “I’ve been helping out in the infirmary. It keeps me out of the way.”

Barry nodded and then gestured Hartley closer. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Hartley Rathaway, my brother.”

“Right,” Henry blinked. “It’s great to meet you Hartley.”

“He helped me get here today,” Barry grinned at them both. “It’s been us against the world.”

“I’m glad you’ve had someone there for you,” Henry smiled softly at Hartley. “Thank you for helping him. It sounds like you’ve been a great brother to my Barry.”

Hartley smiled back a little shyly. He wasn’t used to positive attention from adults, even though Barry had always said that his dad would like him. Hartley figured it would be a good idea to stay silent so that he didn’t sour his opinion like he managed to do with everyone else.

Far too soon, Henry was led away and they had to leave. Barry sniffled all the way back to the house; his tears a mixture of happy and sad. He was thrilled that he’d been able to see his dad, but it had also brought back his anger at the fact that his dad didn’t deserve to be there.

* * *

 

The next week passed by too quickly for Barry. Hartley’s final papers were sent and two weeks after their visit to the prison they were saying goodbye in front of the house. Hartley had claimed as much of his inheritance as he could, but it wasn’t much. His parents had somehow got wind of what he was doing and locked him out of a lot of it. Thankfully, it was enough to rent a tiny flat.

Barry had helped him move his scarce possessions into the flat and had joked that it was a good job he didn’t own much. The flat was big enough for his bed, chest of draws, and a small worktop that had a microwave balanced on top and a fridge underneath. There was a tiny bathroom attached that had a toilet, sink, and shower that soaked everything when switched on.

“I’ll see you soon,” Hartley promised, hugging him and offering a tight smile. “Take care of yourself.”

It was harder in the house without Hartley. Barry knew how to cook; Hartley had assured that Barry knew how to look after himself from a young age, but Hartley had been better at sneaking money for food and clothes.

Thankfully, they were both in the same high school, so they did still see each other every day. Hartley had had to find an after-school job that he could use to start saving for college and still have money to live off. Barry’s dad had told him that he would also gain access to his bank account once he was of age and that he had told his lawyer to give him access to everything. Therefore, he was hoping to join Hartley once he was sixteen so that they could pool their money.

Without Hartley there to help steal money for clothes, Barry was stuck looking through the charity bins for new clothes as his were falling to pieces. He’d managed to find a couple of t-shirts and a pair of shorts before he came across the pile of feminine clothing at the bottom.

It must have been mixed up with the other clothes in order for it to end up in the boys’ section, but Barry didn’t hesitate in looking through it. The way he saw it, if he found a t-shirt he liked then he was taking it, regardless of the intended gender.

He hardly ever had the chance to get what he wanted, so he tended not to hesitate when the opportunity came around. The charity worker was kind enough to let him look through and take some items of clothing in exchange for help tidying up the shop, but it wasn’t often that he found clothing he actually liked; he mostly just replaced what needed binning.

However, even he had a moment of doubt when he picked up a skirt and a dress that he thought was his size. He was surprised by the feeling of longing he felt looking at them, even if he was also bright red at the thought of wearing them. It was only Hartley’s voice in his head telling him to never be ashamed of who he was that gave him the confidence to hide them underneath the over items of clothing that he’d picked and take them with him.

For once he was in a hurry to get back to his room. He shoved all of the clothes into his draw, making sure that the female clothing was hidden at the bottom. Hartley had always insisted that he not be ashamed of who he was, which was why he hadn’t been worried in the slightest when he’d realised that he was just as interested in boys as girls.

He’d known from their first meeting that Hartley was gay, and Hartley had been the first (and only) person he’d told when he’d realised that he was bisexual. Even with that in mind, Barry felt uncomfortable and nervous in a way he hadn’t felt for years. The idea of wearing girls clothing made him feel panicky and elated at the same time.

In the end, he decided not to say anything to Hartley. He justified it to himself because there was no point involving Hartley when he didn’t know himself what he was feeling. Stubbornly, he ignored the little voice in the back of his head that said that this might be the thing that finally caused Hartley to leave.

* * *

 

Unsurprisingly, Barry’s foster parents called him down a month after Hartley had left to tell him that they were fostering another boy and that he’d be arriving that day. Apparently, from what Barry had overheard, they would be receiving more money for fostering this boy because he was a problem child and a little older than Barry.

Personally, Barry didn’t want to share his room with anyone other than Hartley, especially not a problem child. However, no one asked Barry, so he went upstairs and cleared up the room. He wasn’t taking any chances; he put everything that meant anything to him into a bag and hid it under his bed until he could take it to Hartley’s.

The boy turned out to be only a year older than Barry, though he looked older. He said that his name was Tyler, shoved his bag into a draw without unpacking, told Barry he’d kill him if he touched his stuff, and then left.

Tyler turned up again a few days later in different clothes but with the same scowl. Their foster parents probably hadn’t even noticed he’d gone, but they wouldn’t have cared either way. Barry decided the best method would be to avoid him, which wasn’t hard since he slept while Barry was at school and then stayed out all night.

Hartley was concerned when he heard about it but agreed that there wasn’t much that they could do and that at least he seemed happy to leave Barry alone. He did watch him carefully though on the rare days that he turned up for school, as if he could glare him into leaving Barry alone. He also accepted Barry’s bag of precious items without argument.

For Barry, nothing really seemed to change; Tyler left the house every Friday morning and didn’t come back until Monday night, his foster parents left on weekend ‘work trips’, and he was left rattling around the house alone.

Finally, on a weekend he knew no one else would be home, he worked up the courage to try his new clothes. Deciding to start off slow, he put his favourite t-shirt on first; it was plain black with the words “do not trust atoms they make up everything” printed on it in white. It had been a gift from Hartley and it always made him smile.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled the skirt up next and tucked the bottom of the t-shirt in. The skirt was a deep blue skater skirt that ended just above his knees and flared out if he spun around quickly. He laughed once it was on, giddy with the feeling and rushed to find a mirror.

His elated feeling quickly crashed and burned when he opened the bedroom door and promptly ran into Tyler. He flinched back and stammered out an apology, frozen in mortified terror. Tyler glared at him and then laughed when he saw what he was wearing.

“I should have known you were a tranny freak!” He loomed over him, causing Barry to hunch down and try to edge around him. “They told me at that shithole of a school all about how your so-called brother’s a fag. Wait ‘til I tell them about this. You sick freak.”

His humour in the situation seemed to have turned to anger. Barry took one look at his face and then bolted, pushing past him and onto the landing. Tyler swore and easily caught him; he managed to get a punch in before Barry escaped his hold and nearly tumbled down the stairs.

Panicking, Barry didn’t even pause to put his shoes on, he just grabbed them as he ran past and out onto the street. Once he was sure that he’d gotten away, Barry stopped and slipped his trainers on, wincing at the state of his socks. He was still running on adrenalin and shock, but he knew that there was really only one place he could go.

How he managed to get to Hartley’s flat without anything happening was probably a miracle since he wasn’t paying attention. He didn’t stop to consider what would happen if he wasn’t in; the chances were he would have just sat on his doorstep and cried.

Fortunately, Hartley answered when Barry buzzed to come up and even sounded pleased that he was there. He answered the door with a smile that dropped when he saw him; he took in the rapidly forming black eye, tear tracks, and skirt without blinking and then yanked him into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” Barry cried, burying his head into his shoulder.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Hartley soothed, pulling back and gesturing him to sit on the bed while he pulled out the ingredients for hot chocolate.

“I didn’t tell you about,” Barry waved a hand at his legs, a dark blush spreading across his face.

“Is there something to tell me about,” Hartley repeated Barry’s gesture with a smirk that calmed him down. Any doubts that Barry might have faded and he realised how stupid he’d been to think Hartley would judge him.

“I don’t know,” Barry accepted the hot chocolate and leant against him when Hartley sat down. “I think so.”

“Okay,” Hartley accepted. “We’ll figure it out. But first, I’m going to go blackmail those idiots and pick up your stuff. You stay here and put some ice on that eye.”

True to his word, Hartley left and when he came back he was carrying a bag full of everything Barry had left in that house and a promise that the money they got from fostering Barry would go into Hartley’s account providing Barry was emancipated at sixteen so that they could foster someone else. The money they were making from fostering Tyler was enough for it not to be too much of a loss, and the last thing they wanted was to be reported.

After a lot of research and experimentation, they determined that Barry was probably genderfluid. They tried out different pronouns and names and eventually decided that they wanted to keep their name, but that they wanted his pronouns to change as they did.

Hartley accepted them without hesitation and bought them a set of three bracelets; a blue one for masculine days, a red one for feminine days, and a purple one for nonbinary days. They also spent some of their new income of some nicer clothes for both of them and some make-up.

It was a tight squeeze for both of them in Hartley’s tiny flat, but they agreed that it would be for the best to keep it until they had both graduated and could afford something bigger. Even with them both working jobs and the money from Barry’s foster parents, they would be in a lot of debt after college.

As agreed, Barry got emancipated with no problems at sixteen. The money from the Overton’s stopped immediately, but Barry supplemented it with the money from their family’s account. They hadn’t been to see their dad since discovering their gender at fourteen because they’d been worried that their dad might lock them out like Hartley’s parents had.

* * *

 

“Ready?” Hartley echoed himself from three years ago as they sat in the same position, once again outside the prison but this time filled with a lot more nerves.

“What if he hates me?” Barry asked desperately, fiddling with her red bracelet and staring doubtfully at the bottom of her blue dress. Hartley had helped her pick an outfit that wasn’t too bright, but she was wishing she’d worn something less obvious.

Her dress showed off her shaved legs and white tennis shoes – they had discovered that heels weren’t a good idea for her unless she wanted to be permanently black and blue. She was only wearing eyeliner for make-up and, other than her bracelet, her only jewellery was a small pair of blue studs. Her hair was still cut short, but it was styled into something more feminine.

“Let’s do this,” she took a deep breath, forcing her legs to walk. “It’s better to know.”

“Dad,” she greeted with a wobbly voice when he sat down.

His eyes were wide as he took her in, his eyes flashing from her earrings to the small bump of her chest that was actually achieved by a lot of padding in her bra. Her stress levels rose as he didn’t speak and Hartley reached over to take her hand, glaring at her dad which seemed to jolt him into speaking.

“You look so much like your mother,” he told her, causing her to let out a sob. Hartley sighed and handed her a tissue which made her let out a watery giggle. “Is this why you haven’t been to visit?”

“I’m sorry,” Barry wiped her eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Henry smiled. “There’s nothing you could do that would cause me to stop loving you, Barry, nothing.” He frowned briefly. “Do you prefer a different name?”

“No,” Barry beamed, the relief making her feel ten times lighter. “I still use Barry.”

She explained about her gender and then moved onto talking about school and their plans for the future. Before he was led away, she promised that she’s some see him more often until they could prove that he was innocent.

* * *

 

Barry had decided to keep their gender a secret at school until they went to college where people might be more open minded. Tyler had of course told everyone about the fact that they’d worn a skirt, but that was quickly forgotten for other gossip. Hartley graduated and was accepted into his college with no problems and Barry followed him two years later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not all chapters will be this long (this will probably be the longest) but I had a lot of groundwork to write

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: [@exhaustedcommonsense](https://exhaustedcommonsense.tumblr.com)


End file.
